Porsche 1-2 in tight FP1 At COTA

Porsche LMP Team picked up from where it left off in Mexico, kicking off the 2017 6 Hours of Circuit of The Americas weekend with both its 919 Hybrids ahead of Toyota's TS050s in the first practice.

The best time came in the closing minutes of the 90-minute session with Earl Bamber in the No. 2 Porsche setting a 1m48.124s, pipping Nick Tandy in the No. 1 for the top spot. Tandy's best was set moments before Bamber's – a 1m48.269s.

Toyota Gazoo Racing's TS050 HYBRIDs finished up third and fourth, the No. 8 leading the No. 7. They were 0.460 and 1.1 seconds back, respectively, from the best Porsche time in the Texas sunshine. The best time from the Japanese team came courtesy of Sebastien Buemi, a 1m48.584s. Meanwhile, Anthony Davidson's fill-in in the No. 8 – Stephane Sarrazin – set a best time of 1m49.965s in the session and completed seven laps.

LMP2 was close up top too, with the top four all within a second of one another, the G-Drive Racing ORECA 07 Gibson of Alex Lynn, Roman Rusinov and Pierre Thiriet leading the way with the best lap. The Russian-flagged team's fastest tour was set by Alex Lynn, a 1m55.399s, three tenths faster than Matthieu Vaxiviere's best in the TDS Racing ORECA.

The Signatech Alpine A470 completed the top three, ahead of the No. 13 Vaillante Rebellion and No. 38 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECAs which ended the running fourth and fifth.

The most notable occurrence in the session came from the Porsche GT camp, its No. 92 911 RSR of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre completing just 12 laps due to a full engine change by the team, which was completed during the 90 minutes of on-track action. It was an impressive feat, and something which Porsche told RACER would not have been possible in the older 911 RSR. The car eventually set a 2m06.272s in the final few minutes to go sixth.

GTE Am was led by the Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda with a 2m06.989 best lap, just under four tenths faster than the Depmsey Proton Porsche which slotted in second.